Access to computing tools and command line interfaces may require entry of a user ID and password. In general, command line interfaces are employed for multiple activities, such as but not limited to starting servers, changing configurations and so on. Command line interfaces may also be employed to deal with security configurations such as turning security on or off.
Some tools accept security certificates that provide the necessary login authentication information. In addition, a user may access computing tools and command line interfaces via a program or application. Typically, such access may necessitate that a user provide any required user IDs, passwords and credentials for each access attempt. Many programs do not allow cascading credentials, which makes it either difficult or impossible to provide secure, single sign on (SSO) to many applications and command line interfaces. One potential way to address this issue is the maintenance, by each accessing application or program, of a credential vault that manages credentials for the users who have access to the programs and command line interfaces.